Today’s Mets headlines

The Mets, coming off an unlucky series loss to the Reds, will start a three-game series with the red-hot San Francisco Giants tonight at Citi Field. The Giants are heading to Queens after sweeping the Florida Marlins in Miami. They have nine out of their last 12 games.

The Mets, meanwhile, have cooled off after a 9-1 homestand. They, no doubt, are very happy to be returning home after their 2-4 road trip to Philly and Cincinatti. Tonight’s pitching matchup should be pretty good, if Mike Pelfrey can shake off his worst start of the season. He allowed six runs against the potent Phillies offense last Saturday. Tonight, he’ll face Jonathan Sanchez, who is 2-2 with a similar ERA to Pelfrey’s 2.40.

Johan Santana faces Todd Wellemeyer for Saturday afternoon’s tilt. He is also coming off a horrendous outing, the worst of his career, as he allowed 10 earned runs, four of which were homers, in 3 2/3 innings. He really needs to be the club ace to get the Mets back on track, especially as Oliver Perez will have to keep up with Tim Lincecum on Sunday.

The one thing the Mets have to worry about right now is hitting in key situations. They won or lost all three games in Cincinnati by one run. They better hope they don’t get into an extra-innings game with the Giants as the only one they won this season was the 20-inning affair with the Cardinals.

If the Mets can win two of three, then perhaps they can keep pace with the Phillies, who are two games ahead in the National League East. They’ll also try to keep the Nationals from leap-frogging them as they have identical records. The Nationals, like the Blue Jays, have to be the real surprise so far this season.